The Way You Hurt Me

Chapter One

I stare at my best friend over my iced coffee cup and let out an annoyed breath of air.

"You can't be serious," I say, giving her my best 'mom' look.

"Dead ass," Veronica replies, a smile playing on her pink-tinted lips.

"Just know that I'm going to get you back for this one," I tell her, pointing my coffee cup towards her.

"Oh, I don't doubt it," she says, eyes shining.

I get up from our small booth in the back corner of the most popular coffee shop on campus. Everyone knows this place has the best coffee so it's always packed to the brim with students.

I make my way from our secluded booth over to the tables closer to the register. Towards my target, an attractive ginger-haired man with sea-green eyes and light brown glasses framing his face. Freckles are scattered across his face with the majority of them on his nose and under his eyes. He's engrossed in what looks to be a classic literature novel, but one that I can't recognize from a quick glance at the cover.

I sit down on the chair across from him and fold my hands on the table, leaning my body slightly over them.

"What are you reading?" I ask him, voice soft. He didn't exactly notice when I sat down giving me the impression he's truly interested in the novel and not just reading it to get his literature requirement completed.

His green orbs flash up to meet my blue ones, eyebrows flying up.

"Bradbury," he replies, his voice a deep gruff that surprises me. I expected his voice to sound a little higher, less gravelly, and maybe more honeyed, like his hair.

"My favorite from him has got to be Dandelion Wine," I say, shifting my hands from the table to rest below my chin. I almost want to hide behind my hands given the fact that I'm lying through my teeth. Dandelion Wine is the only book I've ever read by Ray Bradbury and I know shit about literature. But Veronica decided he was the mark for today and I can't back out.

Veronica and I have been playing this game since we meet orientation weekend three years ago. Back then both of us were so unsure of ourselves and the thought of having to make new friends was scary, so when we decided to be friends we also decided that college should be a new and better time for us. Over our shared love of caffeinated drinks, we decided that every time we were together in a coffee shop we would talk to someone new. First, it started as talking to anyone. We even met our third roommate from it, but recently it has turned into "go flirt with that boy and see if you can get his number". We take turns and today happened to be mine and Veronica decided to have a little extra fun and pick someone that would be a challenge for me. I believe I'm pretty intellectual, but when it comes to literature I fall so very short of that criteria and since neither one of us has ever backed out of talking to someone it has become a game to see who can hold out the longest.

I refuse to lose.

"You like Bradbury?" he gives me an open-faced look, surprise and intrigue shading his face.

I give him a small smile as my response and stick my hand across the table. "I'm Rena."

He smiles back and takes my hand. His touch is gentle and I can feel rough calluses on the palm of his hand. Didn't see him as a handyman type.

"Dylan," he replies, "it's nice to meet you."

"Likewise. Are you reading for fun or for class?" I ask, already knowing the answer, but trying to make easy small talk.